Process of making sugar.



enoncn W. McMIILLEN, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

rnocnss OF MAKING sn'enn.

Application filed May 4,

To all whom it my concern:

Be it-known that I, GEORGJi. W. McMnL- LEN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and Statespecifically to an lmproved process which involves, first, cutting upand drying the of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Procemes of Mak mg ugar, of which the following is aspecification. A r

This invention relates to improvements in the art of .making' sugar andrefers more sugar-producing plant, then grinding the dried material andfinally extracting the sugar from the ground product.

Among the salient objects of the invention are to (provide a processwhereby the sugar pro ucing plant may be dried romptly at that time whenthe material is in prune condition, and in such manner as to preservethe full sugar content, without chemical change or deterioration; toprovide :dprocess whereby the sugar may be extractfrom the previouslydried'material in a most eificient manner, by the use of a smallerpercentage of water than has heretofore sugar beets and sometimessugarcane preparatory to extracting the sugar therefrom by diffusion. Incarrying out my process, particularly when dealing with sugar beets, Itake the boots as they come from the field and as promptly as slice orotherwise sultably cut up the roots. I then dry the same in any suitableor preferred manner which will insure the driving ofl of the waterwithout effecting any substantial chemical or detrimental change in thesugar content. When properly and fully dried, the slices are quitebrittle or friable, so that they may be readily reduced to finelygranulated form by means of an ordinary grinding machine.

The next step of the roce ss consists in grinding or otherwise fineilygranulating the Specification of Letters Patent.

racticable cleanse and- Patented March 2, 1909. 12307. Serial No.371,821.

dried slices, and it is to be noted that this step may be performedimmediately after the drying or 1t may be deferred to any future time itbeing noted, however, that the dried material is more or lesshygroscopic and therefore if the grinding is deferred for a considerableperiod of time and the material exposed to atmospheric conditions it mayabsorb suificient.moisture torendcr a slightre-dryin necessary before'rinding.

In grinding t e dried slices I prefer to use a grinding machine of suchtype that it will finely granulate the material rather than reduce it topowder or dust; the object beingto secure an extremely finely dividedfmaterial which is nevertheless readily and freely permeable by water. Acertain amount of the dried material will be reduced to powder as anincident to grinding by almost any grinding machine, but the presence ofthis in the mass will not be a particular objection.

The next step consists in extracting the sugar from the ground materialby saturating it with water and thereafter separating the water with thesugar in solution from the solids. In practice I find it preferable topursue a process of extracting closely analogous to the ordinarydiffusion process. That is to say, I referably first moisten the groundmaterial. by adding limited quantities of water thereto and stirring themixture, so as to prevent it from forming into lumps or masses whensubsequently flooded in the diffusion tanks, and I then extract thesaccharine liquid by subjecting the moistened mass to the usualdiffusion process in a diffusion battery. The sugar is subsequentlyrecovered from the liquid in any usual manner.

By grinding the dried material before extracting, I find that a muchless quantity of water is required to effect a practically perfectextraction, the sugar being dissolved out much more readily and rapidlythus giving a heavier solution. The subsequent evaporation of thisliquid is. of course, accomplished with a corresponding saving of timeand fuel. Moreover, the residue which is left readily and quickly drainsout so as to leave a relatively small amount of free water therein. andthe subsequent opcratbn of evaporating out the absorbed Water is morreadily and rapidly accomplished on ac count of the finely dividedcondition of the residue. The more rapid extraction and the handling ofthe relatively smaller amounts ofliquid, ofcourse, means an increaseddaily capacity of a plantof given size.

I' claim as my invention:

1. An 'mprov 'ed process of. making. su'gar which consists in firstcutting 'thesu'gar producing lant' into slices or-smallbodies, nextdesiccating the cut material into afrangible or brittleecondition,thcncoimniimting the "desiceatedanaferial, then saturating @118comsaccharineliquid from the and recoverminuted material and finallyseparating the ingthe sugar therefrom.

2.-Aa1:=f1mproved .process of making sngar whichconsists infirst cuttingthe sugar producing plant into slice's,;next desiccating the catniaterialfinto frangible or brittle cond1ti0n,-th'en grinding thedesiccated material into finely granulated form then extracting thesugar therefrom by difi'usion and finally recovering the sugar from thesaccharine into granulated form, then preliminarily I moistening theground material, then saturating themass and dissolving out the sugar,

as by percolation or-difiusion and finally re-' vcovering. the sugarfromlsaid liquid by evap-* oration. V

1 -GEOBGE W. McMULLEN. Witnesses:

ALBERT H. GRAVES,

EMILIE Rosa.

